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Jul 13, 2020 By Samantha Small Moses Sumney

It’s about time Moses Sumney got into the modeling world. On the heels of his spectacular new album, græ, he’s shared a new song and video for “Monumental,” a track for a new ad campaign for the fashion designer Thom Browne’s spring 2021 collection. Watch it below.

The black and white video, directed by Sumney, finds him draped in one of Browne’s pieces, flexing his glorious set of pipes while posing like a pseudo Greek God. His arms stretch out as he recites his modern take on “Olympic Hymn,” a song composed by Spyridon Samaras which includes Greek lyrics by poet Kostis Palamas. Sumney translated the song into English and added some somber strings and piano while he was it.

With the video, Sumney released this statement: “What does it mean to pose statuesque on top of a marble podium, at a time when statues across the world—long-standing symbols of white supremacy—are literally being toppled? What does it mean to appropriate the Greco-Roman statue, a long-standing placeholder of white male virility and beauty, and replace it with my black body? A body that has historically been disregarded as far less beautiful and in more recent years, objectified? What does it mean to objectify myself?”

Græ was released in May via Jagjaguwar. Previously Sumney shared græ’s first single, “Virile,” via a self-directed video for the track. “Virile” was one of our Songs of the Week. Sumney then shared another song from the first part, “Polly,” which is the final track of part one. Then he shared a new song from the second part, “Me in 20 Years,” via a lyric video (it was one of our Songs of the Week). Then he shared a new song from the first part, “Cut Me” (which was again one of our Songs of the Week) and debuted another song from part one, “Conveyor,” via a live video session at the Moog Sound Lab in Asheville, North Carolina. Sumney then stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform “Cut Me.” Then Sumney shared a visually striking self-directed video for “Cut Me.” Finally, Sumney shared the album’s final two songs, “Bless Me” and “Before You Go,” in one lyric video. “Bless Me” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Græ is Sumney’s sophomore album, the follow-up to 2017’s full-length debut, Aromanticism, and 2018’s Black in Deep Red, 2014 EP. Aromanticism was our #1 Debut Album of 2017 and one of our overall Top 100 Albums of 2017. The album is his first since relocating to Asheville, North Carolina.

Read our 2017 interview with Moses Sumney on Aromanticism.

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